Where's Your Faith?

Systematic what??

Theology is defined as the study of the nature of God and religious belief. Sounds dry and monotonous yes? I mean theologians are those crusty above middle age men and women you see on National Geographic documentaries right? Why should we study theology? I am a nerd by trade and a bookworm to boot; it just comes naturally to me. I love learning about God and the Bible. I’m currently taking a class entitled Systematic Theology. As if theology itself wasn’t hard enough, we have to get all systematic about it?? But I’ve been reading some interesting things in one of my textbooks recently. One traditional definition of theology is “faith seeking understanding.” Studying theology leads to questions. We aren’t questioning our faith, rather we ask questions in order to understand God better. Augustine, and later Anselm, both theologians, agreed that believers inquire not to attain faith but rather to increase their joy by gaining a better understanding of who their God is. True faith keeps on seeking and asking after God. True faith leads a believer to want to know more about their glorious God since they have already experienced the grace of God through His Son Jesus Christ. The Bible tells us in Matthew 6:33 to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness. True theology is not just about reading a bunch of books, writing a couple of academic papers, and getting a PhD. Rather it is about seeking after God, getting to know Him, and trying to understand Him just because we love Him. Of course we can never fully understand God, which is not the goal. But the more we learn about Him, the more we grow in Him!